THE FORMER Fine Gael leader, Mr Alan Dukes, said in Cork yesterday that the present leader of the party, Mr John Bruton, had not misled the beef tribunal regarding fundraising for Fine Gael and that he had withheld no relevant information from it.
Mr Dukes said that neither he nor Mr Bruton had acted improperly in any way, and added that Mr Bruton was quite right when he said he had not been heavily involved in fundraising for the party, and also quite right when he said that he had no clear recollection of being asked by Mr Dukes to contact two businessmen, Mr Neil McCann of FII and Mr Kevin J. Kelly of Coopers and Lybrand.
"The only improper thing that happened, as far as I am concerned, is that he didn't do as I asked him," Mr Dukes said.
He went on: "He doesn't have a recollection of events at the time, nor do I. In any event, as I have said, that formula for fundraising was not particularly successful. You can take it that nothing improper went on and that relevant information was not kept secret from the tribunal," Mr Dukes said in Cork, where he had been attending a conference, before returning to Dublin.